Kroot
The Kroot are a mercenary race that have become allies of the Tau Empire. They make up in part for the lack of close-combat units in the Tau Empire, however in space their Warspheres serve a different purpose. They are a very tough vessel in the Tau Empire Fleet list and their firepower almost makes up for their lack of manoeuvrability. Kroot Background Homeworld The Kroot originated on the world of Pech, a world located in the Ultima Segmentum, in the north-west of the Tau Empire. Hardy evergreen forests of jagga trees cover the prime continent. Those few areas of land not forested are rocky and inhospitable. The Kroot live in family groups known as kindreds and most dwell in arboreal homes in the trees constructed from hides bound together with regurgitated wood. Kroot Digestive System Kroot are tall and their bodies have a wiriness to them that appears deceptively fragile. In actuality, the Kroot musculature is extremely powerful and composed of dense fibre spindles with a greater power to mass ratio than is found in humans. Swift muscle contractions create a whiplash effect, allowing the Kroot to deliver powerful blows with great rapidity. On the ground, the Kroot tend to move with a bounding, hopping gait, but when in dense forests, can spring from tree to tree at great speed. The Kroot favour primitive garb; harnesses worked from the hides of animals and adorned with bone, handcrafted amulets and circlets. By far the most odiou habit of the Kroot is their habit of eating the flesh of the dead. In battle, this leads them to ritually devour the corpses of those they have killed and almost nothing is beyond their tastes. Kroot Digestive System The Kroot digestive system is extremely efficient, capable of breaking down almost any organic material into an energy form that can be stored in specialised organs scattered throughout their bodies called nymunes. The strangest quirk of Kroot digestion is their ability to extract potentially useful strands of their food's DNA. It is known that most of the double helix structure of their DNA is in fact blank, used to separate those areas that do contain genetic information. The Kroot have somehow inherited the ability toincorporate useful DNA into their own genetic make-up. Larger Kroot, called Shapers, who have an instinctive understanding of this process, can direct their kindred to consume certain prey in order that, in successive generations, they may take on elements of those genes. Kroot Mercenary Practices Pech is entirely integrated into the Tau Empire, but not all Kroot fight for the Tau - it is not unknown for mercenary forces to be found fighting alongside Eldar, Human renegades, the dread legion of Chaos and even Orks. The Kroot have no deeply held prejudices against any particular alien races and give little or no thought to who they fight, only what they are paid. This practice is entirely at odds with the Greater Good, and so the Kroot keep knowledge of it from the Tau, itinerant Mercenary forces avoiding contact with Tau forces. Kroot in BattleFleet Gothic In BattleFleet Gothic the Kroot are one of the allies available to a Tau force. The Kroot have only one ship available, the Kroot Warsphere. This ship is very slow but is manoeuvrable but has heavy firepower in the form of a strength 12 Weapons Battery. Where the Kroot really excel, however, is in boarding actions or planetary assaults. It gains multiple in both of these scenarios and so is it is a good choice for the Planetary Assault scenario.